Higher Ground
by Age
Summary: Post Season 3. Trouble catches up with the gang after they flee Roswell, dangerously forcing them to deal with past assumptions and the latest threat to their lives. M/M & M/L
1. The Danger That Follows

**Title:** Higher Ground 

**Rating:** PG-13

**Summary:** Post Season Three. The first sign of trouble since fleeing Roswell forces the gang to decide what to do next, while each of them still adjusts to a life on the run. This story has plenty of both Michael and Maria as well as Max and Liz. 

**NOTE TO OTHER AUTHORS:** Any Roswell fanfic authors who fully intend to continue with Roswell fanfics well into the coming months, please contact me at AgeRose@aol.com . I've maintained a website before, and I'd like to start a Roswell fanfic website dedicated solely to NEW Roswellian fanfiction (stories written AFTER the series finale, although, I do NOT care if your fics are post season three or take place during seasons one, two, OR three). Hope to hear from some people! 

**Disclaimer:**  I own absolutely nothing related to Roswell. This fanfiction is simply in the name of fun. No profit is being made or anything like that. Yada, yada, yada. 

The *** signify a shift in "scenes" ….

Now. Onto the story. Enjoy! 

**********

Everything was screaming, shrieking scornfully as he ran through the raven alley. The cement screeched up at him as his boots slammed and dug against it. He pushed himself forward, sweat dripping from above his lip and the muscles in his legs burning angrily through the bitter ache of the cold night air. He couldn't risk shouting out to her, knowing it would alert their pursuers. The alley soon gave way to a wide river of black pavement as Max Evans rounded the corner. His eyes never left the petite creature ahead of him, cantering down the street. Long strands of brown hair flailed about behind her, the wind raging against her entire body. Even from his distance, he knew she was trembling. Trembling from cold. Running from the wind. From the fear. From loss. Running, even though it all surrounded her. 

***

She was dancing on her toes. She was twirling around and around so that her hair swished through the air. Maria DeLuca was lost inside the depths of her dream, and she was circling inside a crystal clear box, dancing gracefully to music that was only in her head. Every time she spun, her eyes came across the man she loved. A brooding Michael Guerin sat cross-legged, outside the box. He looked on with envy and fear. He looked at her with regret, and his eyes were so dark and sad. She seemed to float on air to the corner of the crystal cube and press her palm against the glass. Michael stood and educed a small yet relieved smile as he reached his hand up to meet hers, with only the see-through material separating them. Though, as soon as he touched the glass, she stopped floating. She fell and fell and fell and when she thought she had hit the ground, she felt the cold splash of icy water. Rising water. She looked back up to Michael, still standing on the outside, but when she looked back down, she was all but submerged. Her cube was filling up, and she could no longer stand. Everything was so cold. The water seemed to flood in from somewhere unseen. The top of the box fell closer and closer. Michael pounded, but nothing happened. Nothing could be done. She had no escape. She floated in the dark, gliding waves, but as she neared the ceiling and had but inches of space left before the entire cub was flooded and devoid of air, it was Michael she felt. Still outside of the box. Screaming, pounding, begging. Helpless. Overwhelming helplessness trickled inside of her, along with the freezing waves that began to fill her lungs. 

***

After a breath-consuming block and a half, Max still was unable to catch up to her. Footsteps could be heard in the distance, far behind him, but it was only a matter of time before they reached them. His side ached. His mouth was dry and tasted of blood. He was fighting for air, but not a single obstacle in the universe would stop him from getting to that young woman, ambling further and further into the darkness of the night. And so he picked up his speed with a hidden burst of energy. Within moments, she was within his reach. He reached his arms out, still running. Hurriedly, he grasped her shoulders, pulling her into him and lifting her off the pavement all in one single, swift motion. Her terrified scream filled the air as the two tumbled in the street, collectively falling against the curb between two parked cars. Their once fast pace had now crumpled into complete stillness as both remained tangled and lifeless.

***

Maria gasped heavily as she jolted up, nearly knocking herself off the seat she had been lying in, curled against Michael's body. She stared at the blur in front of her, dazed until her surroundings grew less fuzzy. She made out Kyle Valenti, who was sitting along the side of the van, gazing back at her, concerned. "Nightmare?" he asked quietly. Maria nodded in silence.

Confused at the vivid images still swirling in her head, she looked back to Michael. His chin rested against his chest, and his arms were crossed loosely in front of him. His eyes were closed in slumber but his face held an expression of trepidation. Before she turned back to Kyle, Maria saw him flinch. 

"Seems like he's having one too," Kyle murmured. 

"Yeah…." Maria trailed off, rubbing her forehead. She could feel the crease marks left along her skin, obviously produced from sleeping with her head against the fabric of Michael's shirt. She was still able to feel the warmth of his body on her cheek. 

Cautiously, she extended her hand and traced her fingers along his bare forearm. White hot light engulfed her mind, accompanied by the sound of bouncing waves and gasps for air, echoing over silence. The image of the glass box flashed like a still image in her head. And then blackness, overcome with the greatest sense of helplessness she had ever experienced in her life. Finally, a deep shade of red engulfed her, and she could hear trickling. Drops fell like rain. Rich red drops that were thick. Blood. Utterly shocked, she ripped her hand away from him to end the flashes.

*** 

Max shifted beneath the trembling woman, whose long hair was now upturned and covering her entire face. As he worked to sit up straight and untangle his limbs from hers, he heard it. Soft whimpers. Still gasping for his own breath, he pulled her up and began sloppily pushing away the dark and silky cinnamon tresses to unbury her face. When he finally revealed her skin from beneath her soft hair, he could see that she was squinting her eyes, keeping them closed tight in fear, crossroads of tears sprawling over her crimson cheeks. Max could only be captivated for that single moment, and time seemed to stop for him. Beauty at its purest form sat shakily in front of him. He was enchanted, but the foot steps hammered his eardrums. They were close. Quickly, he brought his hands up to her cheeks, feeling once again the soft skin of this woman, his wife. "Liz!" 

Her eyes snapped open and widened as she gawked at his face. "Oh my gawd, Max! Max, you're all right." She flung herself into his arms, relieved to the point of exhaustion. Max took in her scent of vanilla and lilac, closing his eyes and relishing in the bliss that a single touch from Liz Parker Evans could produce. "I thought they-" she said before being cut off by Max, as he pressed his fingers to her lips. 

"They didn't," he stated firmly, never wanting her to even have to think about losing him, let alone believe it and say it aloud. "But they're still after us," he whispered.

"We have to make it back to the others."

"We'll cut across through these buildings. They're only a couple more blocks away." The couple interlaced hands and crept to their feet. They nearly crawled over the curb and across the sidewalk, staying as low as possible in order to blend in with the shadows. And once they reached the nearest building, they pressed their bodies against the cold brick. As swiftly and silently as they could, they edged down the seemingly never-ending alley. All the while, they remained close to the building's wall, becoming just another shadow along its brick. 

The footsteps pounded heavier than ever behind them, but for a moment, it seemed as though their hunters had scrambled past the lightless back street that Liz and Max were creeping along in. Liz let out a tiny breath of relief as Max took her hand and they picked up their speed, now almost sprinting past the dumpsters. They had all but reached the end when Max haphazardly kicked an empty soda can with one of his long strides. The hollow piece of aluminum bounced and skidded across the pavement, ricocheting off of the nearby dumpster. Max looked down to Liz's doe-eyes, now filled with renewed fright. Shouts sounded from the other end of the alley, and as the newlyweds glanced behind them, they could now see two large men, one in a market apron, and the other in a police uniform. Without hesitation, the two men stampeded toward them. 

And Max and Liz took off. Running away. Again. A gun shot sounded as a warning shot as the cop shouted demands that they stop. But neither did. Max only clutched at Liz's hand tighter. And Liz only picked her feet up more to stay in stride with her husband. They turned abruptly down the next street and forced themselves into an even quicker pace for the last stretch. Thunder threateningly boomed in the distance. The still van that contained the rest of their group was now in sight, sitting idly in the empty parking lot, but Max and Liz were now in plain sight of their pursuers, as the orange tinge of the street lamps illuminated their figures. More gun shots sounded, and the couple was too close to dodge any of them. 

***

Maria continued to stare at the slumbering Michael until Kyle called her name. She turned to face him only to see puzzlement written over his face. 

"Something wrong?" Isabel Evans asked, looking back from the very front of the vehicle. Her once-again-long-and-blonde hair swished behind her in the tight pony tail she had just pulled it into. 

"Other than our entire situation?" Kyle questioned with a slight smirk, which caused Isabel to roll her eyes icily and return to her magazine that she was absentmindedly flipping through. 

Maria shook her head, sighing. "I need to get some air." She pushed herself off the seat and, hunched over beneath the roof of the van, stepped to the sliding door. Two sharp, quick booms echoed outside. Isabel gasped. Michael shot upright in his seat, ripped abruptly from his sleep. 

"What happened?" he shouted immediately, dazed. 

"Were those gun shots?" Kyle asked, turning around to look outside. Maria slid the door open, which caused Michael to jump up from the back and shout her name. If the sound really was a gun shot, he wanted Maria nowhere near that door. But just before he could grab her and wrench her into the back of the van, she shrieked, not even able to take one step outside. The next instant was a mess of flying hair and body parts as Maria fell backwards with Liz on top of her. 

Before anyone could react, Max had flung himself into the back after retracting his protective green shield. He rushed to slam the door shut. Once he did, he wasted no time in jumping into the driver's seat. Just as he turned the engine, a bullet shot straight into a side window, shattering glass in Kyle and Michael's direction. Shrieks of fear mingled together to form a collective voice of fear. Max sped off, spinning out of the parking lot and into the street, escaping the wildly firing men. 

Michael stared down at Maria, ensuring she was unharmed. Max looked back, despite Isabel's pleas to keep his eyes on the road. He was rapidly increasing speed as the van headed for the highway. "Is everyone all right? Liz?" 

"Yeah. I'm fine," Liz said, dazed and still on top of Maria. 

Kyle worked to pick away any loose shards of glass that clung to his shirt. He noticed a few stray cuts along his forearms, though he felt fine. He glanced over at Maria, being straddled by a shaking Liz. 

"If we hadn't just been attacked by rapid gunfire, I'd say that position was pretty hot, ladies." 

Kyle anticipated the slight slap to the back of the head from Michael but gave Liz and Maria a thumbs-up despite it. Maria merely rolled her eyes as Liz slid off of her best friend, apologizing for bowling her over in her attempt to escape the gunfire. 

"Oh, anytime, chica," Maria joked with a dismissive wave of her hand. She brushed her jeans off, and both girls remained on the floor. Neither could shake the newfound apprehension, however. It was the first time since they left Roswell that they had been recognized, and it was an earth-shattering revelation. They wouldn't be able to disappear so easily. Max and Liz had walked a few blocks into the city, while the others waited in the parked van, partly hidden in the shadows at the edge of a small parking lot. The newly married couple's job was to purchase a few groceries and a newspaper, as well as subtly ask around if their had been any news generated from the their wild graduation departure in Roswell. It had been weeks since they had set foot near any big cities. For the previous month and a half, the gang stuck strictly to the back roads, and they had altered the paint and make of the makeshift family's van three times since fleeing. 

Their first venture into a big city had turned into one giant bad idea. Max and Liz had run into a police officer inside the grocery store. It was bad luck, but as each day dropped away from them, they knew their luck was doomed. It was as if each person traveling in that van had become an alien the day they left Roswell. There was no longer a division between them, but this union refused to be as happily accepted as once would have been believed due to their current situation. It was different, because now they were being openly hunted. 

The rest was simple. Liz had barely escaped the grocery store. Max was restrained by the officer while the store manager ran out from behind the counter to aid in the capture. He screamed and demanded that Liz continue running. With a hidden bolster of energy, Max broke free merely moments after being held down. He ran to find Liz, knowing the two men would not stop their pursuit. The cop had probably already called in back up. And he ran as fast as he could in spite of this knowledge. He ran as fast as he could to find Liz. It was obvious that main authorities in the surrounding states had been alerted to capture them. They didn't need a newspaper to tell them that. The unexpected, attempted seizure of Max and Liz was all the information they needed. 

And this is how they all came to be, once again in the van, but this time their location exposed. The breathing had yet to calm, even several minutes after exiting the highway and onto a back road that would lead away from the disaster and noise and watchfulness of the city. 

"We gotta do something, Maxwell," Michael called from the backseat, noting the way Maria was nervously fidgeting with the bottom of her green top. 

"I know that. We have to find a place far enough and hidden enough before we can stop again." 

"We can't keep doing this. Running. It isn't going to work forever. We need a place to go." 

"We don't have any place where they won't find us, Isabel," Kyle replied. 

"Maybe we should discuss splitting up," Michael uttered. No one responded, for everyone had lost their breath in the moments that followed the eerie suggestion. After all the group had been through, they thought leaving Roswell would be their biggest decision. As Max drove along the bumpy road, however, each of them realized that the choice to be faced within the next few hours would be indeed, their greatest decision.

_To Be Continued extremely soon…..___


	2. Only the Beginning

It's July 22nd. I'm Liz Parker and almost two months ago,, I left the only home I've ever known. I don't know if we'll ever be able to go back, but that problem is the furthest thing from my mind now. The six of us are three states away, but Roswell feels an entire lifetime away. Together, we have a different path to follow, an entirely new plan. A way of life none of has ever known is now all we have. Maybe that explains, for as far away as Roswell is to us now, why we just can't adjust to such a drastic change. Maybe none of us was as ready to leave as we once thought we were. Even though we had no choice, this path we have found ourselves on isn't nearly as easy or adventurous or satisfying as we had hoped. And the reality of our situation is, this is only the beginning....  
  
Liz glanced up from her journal to see Max staring at her from the other side of the parked van. He smiled, a gesture she easily returned.  
  
They had driven late into the night, and in a few hours the sun would surely begin its ascent into the sky. The further they were from the city, the calmer they all began to feel. But they didn't come to a stand still until they reached a heavily wooded area, the last signs of civilization miles back. The others had wandered a little outside the van to get some air while Max went over roadmaps and Liz scrawled in her journal.  
  
"Are you okay?" he whispered. She nodded, gently tucking her russet tresses behind her ears.  
  
"We'll find away around this. We always find a way, Max."  
  
"Even if it means breaking the group up?" he questioned, moving to the back of the van to sit beside her.  
  
"I don't want to even think about not seeing everyone. We've already left our families. I'm scared to think about not having Maria in my life either. She's like my sister."  
  
"We've all kind of made our own family together, haven't we?"  
  
Liz nodded, closing her eyes tightly. She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "No matter what, I'll always have you, right?"  
  
Max stared down at her, finding her hand with his without even looking. He nodded as he smiled happily. "Always."  
  
***  
  
He watched her fixedly. Maria was kneeling beside the small brook, lazily tracing her fingers over the water. Michael jammed his hands into the pockets of his black jeans as he stood achingly beside a tree several yards behind her.  
  
He thought back to the night they all left Roswell. He remembered the relief that had overcome him when faced with the knowledge he wouldn't be leaving alone anymore. He had been bowled over with comfort when Maria decided to come. He had been bowled over with an old, haunted emotion too. The one that disappeared over a year earlier when he chose to live in the present and let himself be free to love her. It had returned, though. Blame. It truly was his fault that she had to give up her life to run away with him. She said it was what she wanted, but his life had never given her a choice. Two months ago, her choice was either stay in Roswell, risk the FBI taking her in for her association with him and the others, be without her best friend in the world, be without all the people she had let consume her life for the last three years … or embark on a life on the run in order to be with him and keep her friends. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for her or Liz or Kyle.  
  
He shifted his feet, accidentally snapping a twig as he pressed his boot back down into the dirt. Maria, who had been squatting down on the tips of her toes, reflexively spun around at the sound, terrified. She spun too fast and fell backwards, her slender arms falling to her side in vain attempts to hold onto solid ground. She toppled back into the creek, yelping in shock. Water splashed, Michael stepped forward, and Maria glared as he revealed himself.  
  
"I didn't mean to scare you." He stopped a few feet in front of her, afraid of getting too close – afraid of Maria's anger. She began to laugh instead of scream, and Michael bent over to hoist her up and out of the water.  
  
"This just hasn't been a good night at all, has it?" she said through her giggles. Her jeans were completely soaked. "First a welcoming barrage of bullets and now I flip out over a stick snapping."  
  
Michael silently waved a hand over her jeans. Maria watched as they instantly dried. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"So…."  
  
"So….."  
  
"Look, Michael. I didn't say anything when you mentioned the whole splitting up thing, but I need to know. You were planning on keeping me with you, right? No 'I'm-alone-and-that's-the-way-it's-gotta-be' speeches?"  
  
He only stared down at her awkwardly before shifting his gaze to the trees behind her. "I don't know."  
  
"What do you mean you don't know? You either you want me with you or you don't."  
  
"It's not that simple."  
  
"It should be. If you meant it when you said you loved me, it should damn well be that simple."  
  
"Let's not get into this right now. We'll talk about it with everyone else in the morning."  
  
"I just … I just thought the doubts were all over with, Michael."  
  
"I'm tired. It already sucks enough that we're not going to have a motel tonight. So I'm going to make a nice place for myself in the dirt outside the van and get some rest."  
  
"Fine." Maria crossed her arms over shoulders and watched him retreat. He stopped, turning back to her.  
  
"Well, aren't you coming?"  
  
"I'll be fine out here."  
  
Michael sighed before sauntering back and sliding down against the tree, resting his arms on the tops of knees. Maria stared at him with a non- believing smile.  
  
"What are you doing, Michael?"  
  
"Just sitting."  
  
"I don't need a babysitter. I made it out here just fine. The van isn't more than a mile back in that direction."  
  
"Well, I don't want you getting scared again. And none of us should be alone after what happened tonight. Even if we are in the middle of nowhere."  
  
"Whatever," Maria muttered, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Let's just head back. And I have the perfect topic to chat about on the way."  
  
Michael groaned as he got to his feet again. "If I didn't ask what it was, could we just walk in silence?"  
  
"Not a chance, buddy. It's about you."  
  
"I told you we'd talk about everything in the morning."  
  
"I want to talk about the nightmare you had tonight."  
  
Maria noticed his quick stall in pace before a pitiful attempt at regaining his composure. He shrugged, feigning confusion.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Don't play stupid. I saw it too." Even in the dimness of the night in which they walked amidst the bony trees, Maria noticed some of the color drained from his face as she uttered the last words.  
  
***  
  
"Are you cold?" Kyle asked, stepping next to Isabel. He offered her his jacket, but she refused him with a shake of her head. Her hair fell over her shoulder as she did so. Isabel was still getting used to having blonde hair again. If the FBI were as open about finding them as they had been in the group's final weeks spent in Roswell, they had surely posted pictures of all of them in the surrounding areas. Her picture would most likely be one sporting her short, darker hairstyle. The one she met Jesse with. The one that was in her wedding pictures; the one she wore every day of her relationship with him. It was for the best anyway. Going back to the blonde. She knew it was stupid, but the hairstyle was from a part of her life she couldn't return to. A part of her life where she was happy, and she couldn't carry it with her, not even as a reminder. Things like that just hurt too much.  
  
Kyle sat on a nearby rock, staring at the wooded area surrounding them. "About what Michael said. Splitting up. What do you think about it?"  
  
Isabel, whose arms were crossed and back faced to him, merely shook her head. "If he didn't say it, I would have brought it up."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. I think it would be good. If you think about it, Kyle, we'll never get a fresh start if we keep clinging to each other."  
  
"I guess, if that's the way you want to look at it."  
  
"And how do you look at it?" she questioned, turning to face him.  
  
"Well," Kyle began, scratching his head. "I think that the best thing to do is stick together. We have all we need. If one of us gets hurt, Max can heal. With your guys' manipulative powers, we're practically set for life financially. And with Liz's premonition hocus pocus, we'll be prepared."  
  
"Max and Liz weren't prepared tonight. She couldn't predict the gunshots…. Sure, I can wave a hand over a sheet of paper and turn it into cash. And Max can wave his hands and heal us all. But, we don't have all we need. We need a place to go to, and no powers are going to protect us from the entire FBI, and a van with five other people just doesn't cut it for me, Kyle. I can't handle it."  
  
"Does this have to do with Max and Liz? Being so close to them when they're married? You know … since you had to give up your own marriage…."  
  
Isabel thought about her hair again as she narrowed her eyes. She could get used to long and blonde again. She could. She could revert back into aloofness in a heartbeat. Isabel had dyed Maria's hair brown. And Michael had cut his hair short again. His chaotic spikes were back, and even Isabel knew that his old barricades and brick walls had emerged, just waiting to break the surface again. Everyone knew, though no one could understand why. And no one asked, for there was much to be confused over in their lives at this point. But Isabel's blonde hair was a return to an earlier stage in life, one spent without getting too close, and she knew it had worked for her before. No one died and no one was running from their lives when she remained detached. And though Maria had no solid reason for switching to the soft brown color other than a whim, Michael seemed to cut his hair almost as a reversal. If he wished hard enough, maybe he could make things go back to the way they were long before everything changed. At least, that's what Isabel thought Michael's decision for a hair cut was all about….. Nothing was ever simple.  
  
"You think I don't want to see my brother happy?" Isabel questioned coolly, still staring out into the distance.  
  
"No. No, that's not what I meant at all, Isabel."  
  
"Because I do want to see them happy. They deserve it."  
  
"They do. They do." Kyle nodded in agreement, standing up and starting off back to the van. Isabel remained for a moment before following. They approached the van only to find Max and Liz making out with the door wide open. Isabel restrained from rolling her eyes, and Kyle smirked at her agitated expression. Deep down, he couldn't blame Isabel for wanting to leave, but he was at a loss when it came to understanding how she could justify walking away from everyone else left in her life.  
  
Max and Liz were still pressed against each other, aggressively going at one another. Kyle coughed to signify their presence outside the van. The couple took no notice however, and they continued their passionate kisses until Liz gasped.  
  
\\…Desert. Stretching for miles. The markings on the ground. Max. Michael. Everyone in a circle. The mountain beside them. The Indian descending. Children's voices. Explanations. River Dog. Lightning. A single echoing word….\\  
  
Liz broke away from Max, pushing herself away from his body. She was unable to focus on Max's question, asking her if she was all right. Seconds passed, and she noticed Isabel and Kyle staring worriedly at her. "Flash?" Max asked, finally getting used to the reaction she always gave when she saw things. She nodded, catching her breath.  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"I – I saw us all in the desert around the cave markings. And I saw River Dog, Max."  
  
"River Dog?"  
  
"Yeah. And he kept saying one word over and over again, like an echo or something."  
  
"What word, Liz?" Isabel asked.  
  
"Soon."  
  
"Well, that's concise. Soon, what? Soon, we'll die painful deaths or soon, something better than dying painful deaths will occur?"  
  
"Shut up, Kyle," Isabel said as she slapped at his arm.  
  
"That's all I could make out clearly. There was more, but whatever he was saying was all muddled."  
  
"Maybe when you get another flash, it will explain more," Max suggested hopefully. Kyle hopped into the vehicle quickly.  
  
"Well, another flash is going to have to wait unless you want to obtain it in the woods, because I am not going to even try to sleep with you two going at it in here."  
  
Max remained silent and Liz looked down, blushing. Isabel stepped inside too, muttering something about agreeing with Kyle. Whether they liked it or not, Liz's flashes would have to wait, for exhaustion fell over them and only a few hours remained before morning.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
  
1 More coming SOON. =D 


	3. This Will All Fall Down

***  
  
The group was assembling into a semi circle outside the van at seven-thirty in the morning. Maria stood in silence, crossing her arms across her chest to contain the edgy feeling bouncing about inside of her. She watched the others. Liz was standing beneath a tree. She leaned into Max's chest, smiling at Max's arms, wrapped around her own. They were too happy to be running for their lives. Isabel was staring out into the distance, an icy frown etched against her face. She was too miserable, even if they were running for their lives….  
  
Maria turned to watch Kyle rummaging through the ice chest and pulling out a dripping wet can of soda. He hopped out of the van and onto the ground. He seemed to be happy-go-lucky about this whole fiasco, and Maria wished she could have that reassurance. They all knew he missed Roswell just as much as the others, but he seemed to find relief from being a part of the group. A relief she and Michael had yet to find. Thinking of the moody Czechoslovakian, she turned to glance at her space boy. As expected, he was leaning against a tree, glaring out into the distance. He reminded her so much of the boy she had yet to get to know three years earlier. Standing tall, dressed in all black, turbulent spikes sprouting from his head.  
  
And then there was her. Maria. She couldn't get rid of the guilt she felt, for she had abandoned her mother. Just like her father did. Just like she had promised never to do. And she had left to be with Michael, and he was distant and cold again. She was aggravated that he refused to discuss the nightmare the night before. He walked in silence back to the van, and she could do nothing but follow him. They returned to the others, and then it was morning. And there they all were. Gathering to discuss their next plan and Liz's latest flash. And to top it all off, Maria was sick to her stomach and couldn't figure out why. She had been so enfolded with her thoughts that she hadn't even realized Max was speaking.  
  
"So, I think we should hold back on any plans to divide up until we figure out what the flash means," Max finished.  
  
"Well, then get cracking, Maxwell. Because we don't have the luxury of time."  
  
"What do you think River Dog has to do with any of this? We're so far from Roswell. From the reservation," Maria questioned. Glancing over at the stoic Michael, she remembered the cave and Michael being sick. It seemed so long ago. But the emotions reemerged as if it had only been yesterday.  
  
"I have no idea," Liz answered.  
  
"We should probably head out. Make some ground," Kyle suggested. "I'll volunteer to drive. Max and Liz can do … whatever they have to in the back."  
  
Maria smiled, and everyone returned to the van.  
  
***  
  
The van droned along the blistering highway as the sun beat down. The heat was extreme and the vehicles on the road scarce. Six people with an epic secret, which would bind them forever, rode in complete silence. A newly married couple. A passionate, troubled couple. A distant, all but broken young woman. A compassionate, endearing friend. Six people who had inadvertently become a family. Each of them knowing deep down how lucky they were to be in that van together, not alone in the larger-than-life journey they had undertaken two months earlier. Somehow, that luck would not emerge in the silence of that van, though. It remained a blurry, faded, all-but-forgotten perception that lingered in the back of their minds as they got further and further away from a place they once called home.  
  
Max and Liz were cuddling in the back of the van. A flash had yet to come. Max's left hand was held out. Liz brought her left hand to meet his as well. Together, they gazed at their rings, just a symbol of the commitment they had made to one another. Silently, Max enveloped Liz's hand and kissed her cheek. He wasn't afraid, and neither was Liz. They both knew it -- knew how lucky they were. As long as they were together, they could find no wrong in the world. Everything was green and fresh and beautiful. Everything was full of hope. For as long as they had one another, they had all they could ever need. And everyone in that van understood that Max and Liz had found an extraordinary place inside each other. Liz rested her head down on Max's shoulder and closed her eyes.  
  
Isabel was asleep on top of a rolled out sleeping bag against the floor. Kyle drove, Michael was in the passenger seat, and Maria was slumping against the bench behind the driver's seat. She kept pressing her forehead against the window, trying to find coolness in the glass, but only warmth seeped from it and into her skin. Her head was spinning, and finally she pushed herself forward, leaning between the two front seats.  
  
"Kyle, can you pull off at the next rest stop?"  
  
"Yeah. No problem. I think the sign said it's a few miles up."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
She noticed that Michael had now turned and was staring back at her as she slumped back into the seat. Maria found comfort in his concern; he hadn't shown it as openly in a long time as he was right at that moment.  
  
"Maria, what's wrong. You look like crap."  
  
Maria closed her eyes to the mild sting from his words. She should have been prepared for a comment like that. It was too typical. Kyle slapped Michael's arm.  
  
"Are you stupid?"  
  
"Shut up, Kyle." Michael looked back at Maria. Her skin was overly pale. She had closed her eyes. Michael reached behind him, extending his arm to let his fingers trace against her skin; it was warm and damp. Her brilliant green eyes snapped open at his touch, but she didn't move. She stared at his face, and his worry went unhidden. Nothing else was said as Kyle drove off the road and into the rest stop area.  
  
Liz took her face away from Max's shoulder as the vehicle pulled to a stop. She immediately caught sight of Maria in the front, looking miserable.  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"I feel like crap. Michael says I look like crap. I feel like I'm going to hurl. I don't think I'm all right, Lizzie."  
  
Concern washed over the brunette's face as she got up and went to her best friend. "Let me help you." She latched sturdily onto Maria's slender arm and helped her stand. They stepped over a slumbering Isabel and got out of the car. Max followed. Michael held onto Maria's other arm and led her to the restrooms.  
  
Max and Kyle leaned against the door of the van, waiting. A few other vehicles were scattered throughout the area. Families taking time out to stretch. Teenagers on road trips. A couple other cars filed in. It was a busy rest stop.  
  
"Anything new with the flashes?" Kyle asked, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"Nothing yet."  
  
"Have you talked with Isabel lately?"  
  
"What about?"  
  
"Oh. Nothing. Well, you know. She's just … I don't know. I don't think she's handling this whole thing well. Leaving Jesse and everything."  
  
"I wouldn't expect her not to be upset. Everyone's still coping, Kyle."  
  
"Yeah. I guess."  
  
Michael approached them. "Liz is taking care of her." The three men stood silently for several moments, not knowing what to say. They stood comfortably with this silence, not awkwardly. Just waiting. Just thinking.  
  
Someday. Yes, someday, they would be able to laugh and joke around like they used to. They would be able to feel calm again. Someday. As soon as more time passed. As soon as they got as far away from Roswell as they could. Yeah, someday soon.  
  
***  
  
Maria splashed cool water on her face as Liz hovered over her in the restroom. It was a small area with only two stalls and a single sink. Liz pushed her hair behind her ears before rubbing a comforting hand up and down Maria's back. She ripped off a section of paper towel and pushed it into Maria's now shaking hands. Maria smiled weakly and wiped her wet skin.  
  
"Did it just come on suddenly?"  
  
"I've been feeling weird all day. I don't know where it came from."  
  
Maria stared at her face, almost amazed at the transformation it had undergone in a matter of hours. Her skin was an eerie pale and dark circles clung beneath her tired eyes. She turned and stepped over to the trash can, tossing the paper towel away. As she brought her hand up to do so, she stopped reflexively, shrieking at what she saw.  
  
"What? What happened?" Liz came up behind her, alarm visibly present in her voice.  
  
"My hands. Liz. Look at my hands."  
  
Liz followed Maria's gaze and felt a sickening drop in her stomach. The crackling. Green surges of energy – crackling around her hands.  
  
"I didn't do that. I didn't do that, did I?" Liz asked, looking at her own hands. Nothing.  
  
"I don't know. What's going on?" The panic in both their voices was dominant over any other emotion.  
  
"It's okay. We'll … just go get Max and Michael and see if we can figure this out."  
  
"I wasn't healed, Liz. This shouldn't be happening."  
  
Liz stared solemnly into Maria's frightened green eyes, remembering how terrified she had been when it had all happened to her. The relief when it finally went away. But it was back, and it was even more horrifying, because it was happening to her best friend, and they didn't know why. She was right. Maria hadn't been healed by Max.  
  
A women in a red plaid shirt and simple jeans walked into the bathroom, striding into one of the stalls. Liz quickly pushed Maria's hands down. "I'll go and get them, all right. Just stay in here, all right?"  
  
Maria nodded uncertainly. Liz spun on her heals, rushing to the door, but the woman in plaid stepped hurriedly from the stall to the front. She blocked the exit. Liz stared blankly, a sensation of nausea wiping over her. Before she could react, the woman had clutched Liz's arm and shoved her against the wall. Maria screamed when she pulled out a gun.  
  
"Be quiet," she hissed, aiming it at the trembling blonde, who had her hands hidden behind her.  
  
"Listen very closely, girls. I'm an agent from the FBI. We followed you here. Right now, the boy with the spikes is heading over here. I want you to tell him that everything's fine. If you let him know what's going on and he tries to storm in here, one of three agents waiting in the red jeep outside will shoot him, I assure you."  
  
Liz looked over to Maria with wide brown eyes. The agent gestured with her weapon for the two girls to get into the corner. They both shoved themselves against the wall. Maria edged closer to Liz, and Liz reached her hand to Maria's quivering shoulder. White light engulfed her.  
  
\\ Michael standing on sand. Gunshots and then blackness. Michael screaming. \\  
  
Liz gasped. Maria looked at her. "What?" she whispered. The agent was positioning herself behind the door, her gun ready.  
  
"Someone's going to get shot," she whispered, and her face too went pale.  
  
The two girls clung to each other inside. Liz reliving the few images that had come to her in the flash. Maria trying to hide the green crackling of her hands -- trying to hide her fear. Outside, Max and Kyle were standing beside the van, a red jeep parked directly next to it. Michael walked determinedly up to the door.  
  
  
  
…..to be continued!…… I'll write more tonight after work. Sorry I ended it here, but I'm running really late now! =D 


	4. Calm Before the Storm

***  
  
The dingy bathroom's stench was gagging Maria. Yellowed tiles covered the walls and matched the floors. Dirt had built up along the rusting pipes and the paint on the peeling ceiling contained extensive cracks. What a place to die. Maria squeezed her eyes closed as tightly as possible, concentrating on the strenuous effort of finding comfort in Liz's embrace. But it was a failed attempt, because no matter what was happening inside, she knew Michael was still on the outside with Max, Kyle and Isabel. And the other agents.  
  
Three knocks rung out in succession. Liz's hold grew instantaneously tighter. The agent firmed her own grasp, raising her gun in preparation and shooting a warning glare toward Liz. Maria swallowed the lump in her throat as she heard Michael's voice through the door.  
  
"Maria? Are you all right? What are you and Liz doing in there?"  
  
Maria looked to Liz momentarily before clearing her throat, trying to wipe away the fear. "We're fine, Michael. And, um, tell Max and Pierce to quit rushing everyone. We'll be ready when we're ready."  
  
Liz's gaze went to the floor, while Maria looked to the agent, who nodded in acceptance of her answer. Silence was the only reply on the other side of the door.  
  
***  
  
Michael stared at the closed door in front of him. His forehead creased in confusion. He opened his mouth, preparing to find out what the hell Maria was smoking but thought better of it. Instead, he went over what she had said in his mind. Tell Max and Pierce. Pierce? He was the undercover head agent. He was FBI. And then, as if a bolt of lightning had careened down and shed light on the whole situation, he understood clearly.  
  
Despite the newfound knowledge and the unnerving fear riding up and down his chest, he turned around as casually as he could, inspecting the large parking lot as he did so. A couple beat up trucks with teenagers. Two mini- vans and a camper. Trees and park benches. Nothing out of the ordinary. He rested his dark eyes on the van across the lot, several yards in front of him. Their van. Max and Kyle were still leaning against it, casually chatting while they killed time. His fear transitioned into horror as he saw the red jeep beside them. Three men, trying to act naturally but failing miserably at it. One had an eye on Max and Kyle. One was staring straight at him, turning away quickly when he glanced toward them.  
  
Michael looked to the ground, not knowing what to do. He shoved his hands in his pockets, pretending to be unaware of the situation. Pretending to be calm. Not knowing what else to do, he glanced up and stared straight ahead at Max, willing the information with the intense gaze. With everything he could do with his powers, he would have wished them all away if he could only send this single message to Max telepathically.  
  
***  
  
"What's up with Michael?" Kyle asked, as he and Max looked at Michael's still figure. He was staring straight ahead, unmoving and solemn.  
  
"Is he looking at us?" Max questioned, mirroring Kyle's confusion. He shrugged his shoulders in a gesture that asked Michael what he was doing. Michael didn't move; he merely continued to stare.  
  
Kyle looked around, letting his eyes fall on the red jeep five parking spaces to their left. A balding, middle-aged man promptly darted his eyes away. Two other men were in the vehicle, all wearing tight, serious expressions. "Uh, Max. Look to the left. In the jeep." Kyle looked back at Michael, while Max unceremoniously glanced over to the vehicle.  
  
"You think they're FBI?" Max uttered, looking down at the ground and kicking at the gravel casually.  
  
"Yeah, maybe. What are we going to do?"  
  
"We have to be sure."  
  
Kyle was about to reply when he caught sight of Michael spinning around and rushing toward the bathroom door. The three men in the jeep reacted by pulling out their guns.  
  
"Definitely FBI," Kyle muttered as Max strode a few steps and extended his arm out partially. The jeep's windows immediately began to roll up, forcing bewildered faces on the agents. Immediately, they reached for the door handles but nothing opened. Kyle and Max watched as they slammed their shoulders and then their entire bodies against the door, but their actions were quickly proving worthless, for nothing budged.  
  
At the same time Max took care of the jeep, Michael had pummeled the bathroom door down. Once inside, he could hear Maria and Liz's surprised screams.  
  
"Michael, look out!" Maria shrieked, pointing frantically at the woman behind the opened door.  
  
"Freeze," she boomed. Michael neglected the command and shot his arm up. The gun flew from her hand and she was shoved back into the wall with aggressive force. She slumped to the ground effortlessly. Michael turned back to the girls.  
  
"Are you all right?" He reached both hands down and pulled them to their feet. His right arm absentmindedly wrapped around Maria's waist, yanking her close to his body.  
  
"There's more of them out there!" Liz exclaimed.  
  
"Max is taking care of that situation. We need to get the hell out of here. Let's go."  
  
***  
  
Kyle yanked the sliding door open. Isabel jolted awake. "What happened?"  
  
"FBI are here," Kyle informed her, gesturing at the jeep, which Max had transformed into a make-shift cage.  
  
"The FBI?" Isabel didn't bother masking the distress in her words. "Where's everyone else?"  
  
As soon as she voiced the question, Liz emerged from the tiny building that housed the restrooms, followed quickly by Michael and Maria. They walked in a hurried pace, although Maria wanted to flee the ugly scene at light speed. Michael clasped her hand tightly, however, keeping her by his side as they made their way to the others, avoiding a huge scene in front of the countless travelers. Within moments, they had reached the van, and Michael wasted no time in forcing the girls into the vehicle.  
  
"What if they try and shoot their way out?" Kyle asked as Max scrambled to the driver's seat.  
  
"It wouldn't be a good idea," Max responded. "The glass is unbreakable."  
  
"Man, I gotta get me some alien powers." He hopped in after Michael and slid the door shut. The men were still pounding away at the now bullet- proof glass. The agent that had held Maria and Liz in the bathroom lay there unconscious. And the six runaways drove hastily out of the rest stop.  
  
***  
  
Hardly a word had been spoken in the last four hours spent on the road. After speeding away from the rest stop, everyone caught their breath and tried to regroup. Maria had whispered to Liz not to tell the others about what had happened with her hands earlier. Liz gave her a telling look but nodded her head to signify her agreement. "For now," she whispered back and Maria smiled in gratitude. She then turned to Michael, who was sitting beside her, and threw herself into his chest.  
  
Michael, surprised by her sudden action, cautiously brought his arms around her shaking shoulders and held her. Neither spoke. He simply held her, almost rocking her back and forth as he tried to allay her fears. Maria fell asleep in his arms shortly after, and the two remained like that for hours. Liz had asked Kyle to switch places. She crawled into the now vacated front seat and rested a hand on her husband's shoulder. Kyle stretched out in the back seat and Isabel merely stared out the window.  
  
And this is how they all arrived at a small, dusty, old motel four hours later. Thunder boomed above them, echoing around the royal purple clouds. The air smelled of sweet rain.  
  
"Will they find us here?" Isabel asked as they all stepped outside.  
  
"I don't think so. We traveled pretty far from the interstate." Max swung the keys around his fingers before giving his sister a hug. "It'll be okay, Is."  
  
The tall blonde suppressed tears, nodding only to placate her brother. She wiped her fingers across her cheeks as she stepped away and headed into the motel lobby. Max turned to face Liz, sliding his arm over her shoulders and pecking her lips. "It'll be okay," she affirmed his previous statement. He smiled and both followed Isabel to rejoin the rest of the group.  
  
A storm was gathering force above them all, and the night that lay ahead had much in store for them….  
  
  
  
  
  
New (revealing) update should be posted by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for the reviews. 


	5. Tormented Lovers

***  
  
"You've been pretty quiet," Michael commented as he rummaged through his bag. He stood at the end of the bed, while Maria sat along the side, dangling her legs off the edge.  
  
"Still shaken up, I guess."  
  
Michael looked at her for a moment before shuffling through his bag again. He had found what he was looking for already but continued absentmindedly sifting for lack of better actions. He felt awkward around her, because she was acting differently, almost as if she could sense what he was thinking. He didn't want her to know what he was thinking, because what ran through his mind scared even himself.  
  
"Is that all that's wrong?"  
  
"It's all right, Michael. You wouldn't want to hear it anyway."  
  
He clutched the cardboard box in his left hand as he sauntered over to her. The sound of rain filled the quiet room as the first wave of drops began to shower down to the dusty ground outside. He stretched out his arm and opened his hand, displaying his offer to her. A box of animal crackers. She smiled in amazement, his action tipping her already emotion-crazed state over the top and forcing her into tears.  
  
"I, uh, remembered how you grabbed these when all we had to eat was a bunch of vending machine junk."  
  
"On our way to Marathon. I can't believe you remembered."  
  
"I did." He sat down beside her. "Tell me what's wrong."  
  
"Everything."  
  
"Start with something, then."  
  
She turned her entire body so that she was facing him. "I abandoned my mom, Michael. I just up and left her like my father did to us."  
  
"She knows why. She knows you didn't abandon her. You *didn't* abandon her, Maria. You didn't."  
  
"Why does it feel like I did then?"  
  
"Because…."  
  
"Yeah. That's what I thought." Maria's green eyes flooded over once again, and Michael looked away before starting again.  
  
"You left because of me. So if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."  
  
Maria could only shake her head. She pressed her fingers into her cheeks in frustration, angrily wiping the endless teardrops away. "Look at us," she spat and almost laughed. "Blaming ourselves for something we couldn't control."  
  
Michael gazed down at the worn brown carpet. Down at his boots. He chose not to respond.  
  
"Michael, I just want you to understand that I love you. Sometimes, I don't think you really get it."  
  
"I get it," he mumbled quietly, almost dejectedly. He had tried to respond in a heartfelt manner, but it came out exactly how it felt. Maria was confused. Maria was stuck with him. He silently reached for her. "Let's just get some sleep, okay?"  
  
They kicked off their shoes and crawled beneath the covers, never once letting go of each other. They closed their eyes. Maria cried for a little while, muffling the sound by burying her face in Michael's chest. He felt her tears seep through the black of his t-shirt and into his skin. The thought clouded his own eyes with watery haze. And again, he was reminded of how stupid he was for thinking that this might have worked.  
  
Half an hour passed and Maria was on the verge of sleep. Before dropping off completely, she whispered, "Don't ever leave me, Michael."  
  
He tightened his grasp, as if afraid she would dissolve into the bed and forever away from him if he didn't hold on for dear life. "I won't. You're gonna leave me," he uttered, almost inaudibly.  
  
***  
  
Max stared at the digital clock beside the bed, where he lay flat on his back. It read 11:43. He looked back to Liz, who was brushing her hair out in front of the mirror.  
  
"Max, I saw it. Well, I didn't *see* it. But I saw Michael standing there. And then I actually heard gunshots."  
  
"But you didn't see Michael get shot?"  
  
"No. But I saw him. Only him. And then I couldn't see anything at all. But I know I heard Michael screaming."  
  
Max sat up and pushed himself off of the bed quietly. As he strode over to Liz, he saw a branch of lightning illuminate the night through the curtains of their hotel room. He stepped up behind the chair she was seated on and began rubbing her shoulders as she continued talking.  
  
"I don't know if that was supposed to happen today and something changed or … maybe it's still to come."  
  
"There's no way of knowing unless you see something else, Liz."  
  
"It's just … this whole seeing-the-future thing. It's more frustrating than anything else. I can't really understand it."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Liz shook her head as she smiled and turned to look up at him. "Don't be." She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head tightly against his midsection while she remained seated. She could feel his hands running through her hair.  
  
"I know I'm not in a position to promise you anything, Liz. But I can promise you that I'll spend every breath trying to find a way to make our lives normal again."  
  
"As long as I have you here with me, I don't need normal."  
  
They remained joined like this for long moments afterward, and as it often did for the star-crossed couple, time seemed to delay itself to allow them the serenity of each other – locked in a tender embrace.  
  
In the room to the left of them slept Isabel, with Kyle on the floor. The room on the right, Maria and Michael were lost in tormented slumber, living a tangled nightmare. But right there, there in the middle stood Max and Liz, awake and aware.  
  
But like all other things, the time came for them to break apart. "Ready for bed, Mrs. Parker. Or is it Mrs. Evans?" Max laughed. "You know, I can't believe we never talked about it."  
  
Liz giggled. She couldn't believe it either, and in her diary she had been absentmindedly signing Parker due to habit. She silently wondered why, for the fact that she was Max Evans' wife had never escaped her mind. She chalked it up to subconsciously holding onto the last little bit of familiarity that she could. Her family name. The family that she had left and missed so much every day.  
  
Liz walked over to the bed and slid in beside Max. But as she reached for the light, she looked directly into his adorable eyes and knew what she wanted. "It's Mrs. Evans," she stated simply before switching the lamp off and snuggling beneath the blanket. Max smiled into the newborn darkness before too sliding down into bed beside his wife.  
  
***  
  
Maria bolted straight up in the bed, finding it difficult to breathe with the ravaged images flooding her brain. She leaned over Michael, fumbling around for the lamp switch. Her fingers blindly felt around beneath the shade and finally fell across the hard knob. She turned it and light flooded the room as she struggled to catch her breath. Looking down to Michael, she immediately knew that she had been in his nightmare again. They had connected again. Sometimes, back in Roswell, it would happen. Maria would be leaning against Michael while he slept, and the flashes would come because they were touching each other. It was one of the rare times when Michael's guard was down.  
  
This nightmare was vivid and harsh and almost real; she saw everything as Michael saw it. It was the same nightmare. Maria inside the little glass cube that filled with water. Michael stuck on the outside.  
  
She watched his tense figure for a moment longer before shaking him awake. His eyes snapped open and darted around the room bewildered for several seconds before he focused on Maria's apprehensive face staring down at him. "What? What's wrong?" he asked, concerned, as he raised himself up on his elbows.  
  
"I saw your nightmare again. And I'm not going to let you get by without an explanation again, Michael."  
  
He sighed heavily as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Maria. It's nothing. Just a stupid dream."  
  
"The same one as last night. I was in it, Michael."  
  
He swung his legs off the bed and stood up. Without noticing what he was doing, he began to pace back and forth the length of the bed.  
  
"I'm not shutting up until you tell me about it."  
  
"If you saw it, then what do you need explained?"  
  
"I- I felt what you felt. It was … it was terrifying."  
  
Michael stopped pacing long enough to gaze at her with a bittersweet smirk. "Drop it. I mean it." He strode into the bathroom, and Maria heard the sink turn on. A full minute passed before he emerged, patting his face dry with a hand towel.  
  
"I'm not going to drop it, Michael," Maria ventured, already sensing his intensifying agitation. "If I saw your dream, and I felt it, then why can't we talk about it?"  
  
"Because there's nothing to talk about."  
  
"There's plenty to talk about, pal."  
  
"Maria," he said as a warning, glaring at her. She got up and kneeled in the center of the bed, determined.  
  
"This is important, Michael. Why can't you just be open with me?"  
  
He practically lunged forward, causing Maria to flinch. He stopped directly in front of her, and their faces were mere inches away from each other. "You dreamed MY dream. It doesn't get much more open than that," he spat through gritted teeth.  
  
"Michael," she said quietly, beseechingly, and Michael felt his insides begin to melt. He stared another solid moment before closing his eyes and sighing as he stepped back.  
  
"All right. All right, damn it. You want to know? Fine. That dream is the same one I've had over and over for three years. You remember the soap factory? You remember that party way back when we first started getting close? I had that dream for the first time the night before I broke it off with you there in that warehouse."  
  
Maria stared intently, becoming more and more amazed. In all the time that had passed, she had never once believed he had cared for her so much back then. But ever since he told her that she was the girl for him and that he knew it since their road trip fiasco to Marathon, he had continued to shock her.  
  
"I can't stop it, Maria. It's a nightmare, and it scares me more every time I dream it. It's the same every damn time. You're stuck in that stupid box, and I can see you. But I can't get to you."  
  
Michael was waving his arms in gestures, the blank look on his face was betrayed by his tight lips that she knew were threatening to tremble as he spoke.  
  
"I can't help you…. You're in danger, and I can't help you," he almost whispered, his voice catching. "The stupid thing went away for a while, but ever since we left Roswell, it's back. And … and it's making me realize what I knew back then. What I should have believed all along."  
  
"What?" Maria asked, fearing his answer because she already knew what it was.  
  
"You and I can't work."  
  
"Don't say that."  
  
When her voice quivered and he saw the tears come again, he closed his eyes and felt his chest crumble. "I'm sorry. Do you hear me, Maria? I am so sorry. I love you more than anything or anyone, okay? I love you, but don't you realize that it will never be enough for our situation? I mean, can't you see that?" Michael stared at her for a moment, half-expecting an answer. He collapsed onto the bed, burying his disheveled head of spikes in his trembling hands.  
  
"How … how…" Maria was speechless, but she continued trying to find the words that were trapped inside her shaking body. "I … don't understand. I left for you," she half-whispered, half-sobbed.  
  
"And I stayed for you. But even that can't save us…. You can't stay here anymore. I had my doubts in the beginning, but after today, I know it was all just a huge mistake. I'm going to figure out a way. Find a place for you to be safe. This won't work anymore."  
  
"Don't you think this should be my decision?" she shouted, suddenly finding her voice and causing Michael to cringe at her anger.  
  
"I will not go through another stint like today. I … don't think…. No. I *know* I wouldn't be able to go on if something happened to you. This is for your own safety, Maria. Please. You want to live, don't you?"  
  
"This is not about my safety. It's about your peace of mind!"  
  
Rain was now slamming against the window full force. Wind howled as it rustled crazily through the leaved tree branches. Thunder clapped every other minute.  
  
"I can't see you get hurt."  
  
"What? Emotions don't count? Look at what you're doing now, buddy."  
  
"You're in danger here with me. I'm sorry, Maria. I just can't do this anymore."  
  
"So you're giving me up … again? After everything?"  
  
"You know it's not like that. I will never forgive myself for messing your life up as bad as I have. But, even if it's the last thing I do, I'm going to damn well make things right."  
  
"You thick-skulled moron!" she hollered through blurry eyes. "You'll never understand what you're doing to me, will you? You'll never understand how much I love you?"  
  
"I know that you want to help me. I've known that from the beginning. But I'm begging you, for all that you think I mean to you, Maria DeLuca, stay out of this. I can't live with you living with my problem. Honest to gawd, I can't…."  
  
Maria's insides were trembling, and she felt like she was on a roller coaster that never ended. Her chest ached and she was sure her heart was in permanent knots. She couldn't think of anything to say, and so she just sat there, her body trying to recover from every sob that escaped. Michael's body cringed in despair every time he heard her cry out, unable to stop herself. The tears rolled freely from his sorrowed eyes. Maria remembered everything, allowing the images to roll freely in her mind.  
  
….The first kiss in the Crashdown. The concern when he lay unconscious in the room above the restaurant. The fear that she would lose him in the desert. The devotion in the cave. The relief when he woke up. The stirring hope and poignant affection from his napkin holder project. She remembered it all. The devastation of him admitting that he loved her and then leaving her. All the bantering. All the joyrides and hell trips in the jetta. The time he let her get the flashes. The moments when she watched him sleep peacefully. The times when he laughed without worry, and the warmth his rare smile ignited in her chest….  
  
She opened her eyes and the tears that had clung to her eyelids splashed down to her hands. She gulped, stunned, when she saw the green static had returned, hovering all about her fingers and the back and front of her palms. It tingled but it didn't hurt. Michael hadn't moved from the edge of the bed, his head still cradled in his hands. She watched his back shake ever so slightly, and she could tell he was holding in sobs, afraid of letting her see him cry so harshly.  
  
"Maybe I should have listened when you said to drop it, huh?" she said bitterly.  
  
"I just wanted more time," he spoke without moving. "To be with you a little longer and still pretend that we could be happy."  
  
"Funny how Max and Liz are happy and in the same situation."  
  
"It's totally different. I'm not Max. I can't let my problems consume your life. And you're not Liz. Your dreams are too big."  
  
"Liz had dreams too. But she found something she wanted more."  
  
"She's always been willing. Straight from the beginning."  
  
"And she's always known that she had a reason to stick with all this madness. She knew Max loved her and he admitted it. I had you. Pushing me away every single chance you could. I think I've been just as loyal considering the situation."  
  
"Well, I'd apologize for all of that, but it wouldn't make you feel any different. The point is, Max can live with himself. I can't. Not when you're constantly in danger because of me. And Liz…. She loves him. They're happy. And even if they weren't, Liz is different now."  
  
"She's one of you, is that it?"  
  
"If that's how you want to put it. Max healed her, and she's got things happening to her that she can't control. She needs to be here."  
  
"And I don't," Maria stated simply, staring down at the glowing energy bolts around her hands. She gazed at them; they looked like miniature streaks of lightning.  
  
"Please, Maria. I don't know how else to say this. It makes me physically sick whenever I so much as think about what could happen to you. You still have a chance to make a life somewhere for yourself. And if you're not thinking straight, I'll do it for you." His tone was weary. "I would never leave you, but you need to leave. Get away from me and my problem."  
  
She realized she couldn't argue with him anymore. He truly couldn't live with himself for putting her in danger, and deep inside her, in the very core of her soul, she recognized this as the purest, most giving love ever attainable. Yes, deep down, she knew that she was loved by Michael Guerin more than she could have ever imagined, let alone hope for. He couldn't bare to see her hurt, and so he was going to give her up to save her life.  
  
"I love you, Michael," she whispered as she crawled off the bed. Michael stood as she walked over to him. He could only stare at the ground, knowing he would break down again if he looked at her. But she asked in a hushed voice for him to look her in the eye, and he could not refuse her. And so he raised his head and opened his eyes to her pale, wet face and glimmering green eyes. And his eyes filled with water.  
  
It reminded her much of the night he had come to her bedroom in the rain, sobbing. His eyes were searching and flooded and slightly squinted. His face was so full of pain, and she felt a pit in her stomach expand before plummeting. No hope remained in his beautiful face.  
  
"I love you," she repeated. "And, because you need me to, I'm the one who's leaving. But understand that your problem really is my problem too." She raised her arms and let her hands float in front of her space, consuming the space between his head and hers. The green tinge reflected and lit up his face, and she knew it was illuminating her skin as well. His lips had separated in shock and his gaze was locked, staring at her fingers.  
  
She couldn't fight the tears or the way her face scrunched up in despair as she felt a tidal wave of mingled emotions flood her insides. She couldn't break her stare away from his eyes. Finally, she flung herself at him, letting her crackling hands come to rest on his cheeks. Their warm lips merged together, pressed tightly, the passion and fire that was distinctly Michael and Maria flew between her bodies. And the sensation seeped out of her finger tips. The emotions integrated into the green, tempered energy that bustled around her hands, transforming itself into physical force, and before either knew it, they were flying apart from one another as though an explosion had ripped them apart. Michael slammed into the wall and slid to the ground. Maria was thrown back into the air. She landed in the center of the room, dropping ceremoniously onto the dingy carpet.  
  
She scrambled to her feet, afraid to look at Michael but forcing herself to anyway. He seemed to be dazed, struggling to sit up, as if some invisible fog was forcing him to stay on the ground. Maria yelped in fear before staring down at her vibrant hands once again. Realizing she had caused the energy that had sent Michael flying smack into a wall, she was terrified to touch him again. And so she kept her distance, shaking her head and crying and whispering sorry over and over before she turn and ran out of the room and into the pouring rain.  
  
***  
  
Liz looked around sleepily, not sure what had woken her up. A slamming at the door caused her to jump. She shook Max awake. "Max. Max, someone's at the door," she whispered.  
  
"Open up. It's me."  
  
Liz rolled her eyes and plopped back down onto her pillow. "I swear, Max. I love Michael, but if we ever get to settle down and he comes banging on our door in the middle of the night like this …. I might have to kill him."  
  
Max smirked before grudgingly staggering to the door and unlocking it for Michael. He stormed inside, his hair and clothes soaked.  
  
"What's wrong?" Max asked, shutting the door to the angry night.  
  
"Did you heal Maria? Did something happen that I don't know about?"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Max openly gawked at his best friend.  
  
"Her hands. I saw them, Max. They were crackling just like Liz's did when she started getting powers."  
  
Max's eyebrow raised in shock. Both men looked over to Liz, who was sitting up in the bed, a distraught and knowing expression on her face. A flash of lightning filled the room momentarily before it returned to being lit only by the dim light to the side of the mattress.  
  
"It's true," Liz uttered. "It happened for the first time at the rest stop. Maria freaked. I freaked."  
  
"Why didn't you say anything?" Max asked, trying to mask his mild hurt.  
  
"After the whole FBI episode, Maria asked me not to. I promised, but we were going to tell you. I told her she had to tell you. She just needed time to cope with it, I guess. I know … I know I didn't want to tell you when it first happened to me."  
  
Max nodded in understanding. Michael's desperation would not diminish, however. "We have to find her."  
  
Worry flew onto Liz's face as her cheeks turned crimson. "Find her? What do you mean find her?"  
  
"She ran off," Michael mumbled. "We had a huge fight. I told her that she … she can't stay here. That I was going to find a place for her to start over because this is too dangerous."  
  
Max and Liz both stared at him incredulously.  
  
"I can't believe you told her that," Liz said angrily as she jumped out of bed and went to put her shoes on.  
  
"We'll talk about it later," Max told Michael with one of his disappointed glances.  
  
Together, the three set out into the blowing rain to find her. "She couldn't have gone too far."  
  
"If we don't find her in a few minutes, we're going to have to wake up Isabel and Kyle." Max grabbed onto Liz's hand as they made their way out of the parking lot and off into the long, narrow stretch of trees that dotted along the road.  
  
"Maria!" Michael shouted above the wind, not caring what attention he attracted. He had to find her.  
  
Max was about to make him stop screaming, but they were practically in the middle of nowhere and he knew he would have done anything if it had been Liz they were looking for. So he too began shouting out their friend's name as they stomped through the mud.  
  
***  
  
Maria ran, not knowing where she was going. She figured it would be all right, though, for she had been running without a destination for years already. The crackling would not stop and neither would the rain, but she didn't care. It was the pain inside that she wanted to stop. But it would not cease. Michael would never be able to get past his guilt, and she would never be able to get past that one stone wall still erected in the very center of his core. And now something was happening to her – something that shouldn't have been. Nevertheless, it *was* happening, and it only complicated everything.  
  
She kept running, knowing that she would have been able to get over leaving her mother alone had she had the open arms of Michael Guerin. She would have been content to live the rest of her life running, if it was Michael that she was running with.  
  
But she was there, in the middle of nowhere, running away from whatever she had left. Running through the dark and cold raindrops that soaked her jeans and black tank top.  
  
Michael's face, drenched in his own tears, flashed in her mind, bringing her to a halt. She sucked the air in, heaving and sputtering. It was then that she saw the movement. A figure in the brush before her. It walked closer, stepping around the trees, emerging into the small bit of moonlight that shimmered in between the fierce sheets of rain. Maria gasped as she recognized the figure to be River Dog.  
  
"I have finally found you. I trust the others are safe," he spoke calmly, contradicting the shock that had frozen on her face.  
  
"We must go to Max. There is much to discuss, Maria." He looked down at her hands, his eyes enlarging at the glowing sight. "I see it has already begun. Hurry now." The gentle Indian reached out to the shaking girl, but she sunk to the mud, her knees giving out. She collapsed in a crumpled heap at his feet. He looked down at her, but before he could help her, he heard a familiar voice, shouting through the storm.  
  
Michael ran as hard as he could until he reached them. As he clobbered the final few steps, he fell to his knees, gathering Maria into his arms. "What did you do to her?" he screamed.  
  
Max and Liz followed quickly. "Oh my gawd, Max." Liz stared at River Dog, knowing her flash had been true. He had found them. River Dog had returned. Liz broke away from her amazement long enough to kneel down beside Michael. "Is she all right? Maria, can you hear me?"  
  
"What did you do?" Michael shouted again, his voice muddled by a mixture of raindrops and tears. He picked her up, seeing her eyes open slightly and blinking a few times before closing again. The crackling had flickered out when she collapsed.  
  
"She suffers from exhaustion, Michael. She will be all right. We must hurry. I will follow you back to where you are staying. There is much that I need to explain."  
  
Michael secured his grasp, hoisting Maria further into his arms and turning around to head back to the motel. River Dog followed. Max looked at him before glancing at Liz. The two exchanged a look before grabbing hands and returning to the others. Both couldn't help wonder if River Dog's news was about to introduce even more danger into their lives. Michael was too concerned over Maria to care. But somewhere inside of him, he knew things were getting worse by the minute.  
  
  
  
  
  
To be continued shortly. 


	6. The Consequence of the Balance

Max locked the door to the hotel room after Isabel and Kyle filed in to join the others. Liz stood at his side as he turned to face everyone. River Dog stood silently against the wall, stoically straight. He had not seen the young group in over two years, but he remembered their meeting in the cave on his reservation vividly. The night they joined together to save a near-death Michael.   
  
The room was silent as Michael took care of Maria. They all waited, wishing to leave him the peace to attend to her with as much privacy as could be allowed from a room full of people.   
  
Liz had helped him get Maria's rain soaked clothes off when they first got back to the motel. While Max and River Dog went to collect Isabel and Kyle, he had slipped a pair of baggy gray sweat pants and a t-shirt on her. Now, as everyone was gathered in his hotel room, he tucked her beneath the covers. He couldn't let his eyes leave her troubled face. She seemed to be somewhat awake, but he knew she was too disoriented to speak coherently. He shakily brought a hand through her wet locks of hair and looked away from her weak appearance, undoubtedly brought about because of him. Sitting beside her shivering body, he clasped her ice cold hand with his own and waited for someone to speak.   
  
Outside, thunder boomed so loudly that the window pane was forced to quiver, sending a docile rattling into the room. Michael was staring down at his hand, enveloping hers. Every other set of eyes roamed around the room, waiting for someone else to figure out which question to ask first.   
  
It was Max who finally stepped up. "How did you find us, River Dog?"   
  
"I have ways the FBI haven't heard of, Max," he said simply. Quietly.   
  
"What's wrong with Maria?" Michael demanded abruptly. He stared up angrily at the aging man, desperate to hide his fear.   
  
"She has been changed."   
  
"The same thing that happened to Liz is happening to her," Max explained logically. "I healed Liz and she changed. Maria wasn't healed. How is that possible?"   
  
River Dog glanced confusedly at the dark haired young man for a single moment. "I believe you have jumped to a wrong conclusion, my friends."   
  
"We know that Maria hasn't been healed, River Dog," Liz spoke with calm eloquence. "She would have told me. Nothing happened to her."  
  
"You were not changed when Max saved your life. This ability to heal has nothing to do with what has happened to you and Maria."   
  
"Then how did this happen? They're not like us. They're not alien," Isabel stated the obvious from the corner of the room. She had that look of worry etched across her lips again. Just another obstacle dragging them back. Everything was doomed to fail, and she had stopped trying to figure out what they had done to deserve it.   
  
River Dog turned to face the weary blonde. "They are not alien. You're right. Your friends are human, and because of it, they were changed when they entered the Balance."  
  
"The what?" Kyle asked, his eyebrows creased in bewilderment. Max wore a look of shock. Isabel's expression was similar, while Michael had gone pale.   
  
"When Maria, Liz, and your friend Alex took the healing stones and circled around Michael to help save him, they entered the Balance and came out different."   
  
"It's not possible. That was over two years ago," Michael snapped out without thinking.

"We thought Max healing Liz changed her, and that happened long before Michael got sick," Isabel answered.   
  
"The symptoms do not reveal themselves so quickly, Michael. When I healed your protector, Nasedo, I noticed signs almost three years after as well. I almost died. Our bodies react differently. We won't know how Maria's will cope until the changes are complete."  
  
"Why didn't you tell us back when this all happened?" Max asked, almost angered.   
  
"I warned you that the Balance was a very powerful thing. I told you that it would change you."   
  
"When it was over, then. Why didn't you tell us that Liz and Maria's bodies would react like this? It happened to you. You could have warned us about the changes!"  
  
"There is no way to stop what happens. It would not have been a good time to tell you directly after. For the three of them to live for so long knowing something almost supernatural was going to happen to them. To know their own body was to change, become foreign in a sense. It is not an easy feeling to live with. I did not want to alarm anyone. I did not want anyone to live in constant concern, Max."  
  
"I can't believe this. I thought we could trust you, River Dog. And you kept this from us. We could have done something to prevent it."  
  
"Max, calm down," Liz said with surprise as she stepped beside him. "I'm all right. See. I came out fine, and Maria will too. It's all going to be okay."  
  
"Do you see that in your crystal ball too?" Michael asked, his voice uncharacteristically meek. He stared bleakly at his black boots against the dirty beige carpet.   
  
"No. No, I don't. But I just really wish you two would stop overreacting. Maria has to let her body adjust. That's what I had to do. It's all right."  
  
"No, Liz. It isn't. Everything's changed now."  
  
"I don't understand how it has, Max." Liz looked into his eyes, unable to place the difference in his appearance. He was afraid and upset, yes. But some other darkness was clouding his expression now. For a single instant, she could see something Maria had told her she always saw in Michael. For a single instant, she saw self-loathing. She saw blame. "We're still the same," she whispered her attempt at counteracting this new sensation that surely rippled freshly in her husband's blood.   
  
"Nothing's the same!" Max expressed loudly, and although he wasn't screaming, it was as close as he would ever get to raising his voice to her. Liz watched as he gestured for River Dog to follow him. He strode over to the door, opened it, and walked away from her. She could do nothing but watch him leave as River Dog left in the same fashion.   
  
Isabel's tired voice filled the room, partly distracting Liz from her bewildering hurt at Max's sudden anger. 

"So this would have happened to Alex too, if he had lived." Isabel refused to look at anyone else in the room as her eyes misted.   
  
"I still don't understand what all this balance crap is all about." Kyle looked to Liz for explanation in the quiet, dim room. There was a shift in the air, though nothing moved. Their presumption had been wrong, and it left everything in their already uncertain lives completely questionable.   
  
"Michael got sick a long time ago. We used those healing stones to save him," Liz whispered.   
  
"He would've died," Isabel added.   
  
"Yeah, that's right." Michael stood up matter-of-factly. He rubbed his forehead and let his heavy eyelids close for a moment. When he opened them again, nothing had changed. Isabel still stared at him with her sisterly concern. Liz was glancing around the room with her innocent and unassuming eyes. Kyle was confused.   
  
"That's right," he continued. "They all saved my life. Bailed me out of another one of my screw-ups, Kyle. Now, Liz is different and can't go back home because they'll find out that she's different. And Alex is already dead. And Maria. Maria's suffering because she helped save my pathetic life too. And you know what? I couldn't even give her a decent thank you back then."  
  
"Michael," Isabel began, knowing the dejected tone in his voice too well.   
  
"No. Isabel. No I screwed up. It doesn't get any simpler than that." He frowned, retreating from the scene and entering the bathroom only to slam the door behind him. Glass could be heard breaking inside. The light flickered over them for a brief moment as another harsh slamming noise filled the room, pushing shadows out into the open to dance against the walls before falling back into the corners. Michael was ripping appliances out from the now violent walls in anger. No one went to stop him. They let him break down alone, for no one in the world could make him feel at peace with himself. Not anymore.   
  
***  
  
"All this time, I thought I was the one that changed Liz."   
  
Max collapsed down onto the bed he had been asleep in with Liz only an hour ago. It was darker than when he left it. Liz was still in Michael and Maria's room with the others. He didn't bother turning on the lights.   
  
He liked it better when he knew that because he saved Liz, she had changed. Too bad he had never really known that, though.   
  
Rain was sliding down the windows, and resolve was sliding out of his mind. His hands fell on either side of him, gripping the comforter so tightly that it hurt his white-knuckled fingers. So much was altered in just a few short minutes. Maria was sick, her body obviously not adjusting as well as Liz's had to whatever transformations resulted from their actions in the cave. And Liz. She was not different because she was saved by him. She was different because she helped save Michael. His friend. His brother. His problem. Max allowed a rare and heavy sigh to escape his tight lips.   
  
"I am sorry that what you believed before is not right, Max. But there isn't time to dwell. I didn't come to find you only to explain the consequences of the Balance."   
  
Max stared over to River Dog as he stepped away from the door and further into the shadowy motel room. "What else is there to know, River Dog? The FBI is after us, and we're lucky they haven't caught us yet. It's only a matter of time until they do. Maria's sick. Isabel's depressed. Michael is he's in his own world. No one can help him. I can go on. I can go on and on, but it still wouldn't explain the world of damage we've caused."  
  
River Dog bowed his head at the feared exasperation running vibrantly through the young man's voice. He was almost pleading for help. Pleading for someone else to acknowledge the situation was too bad to escape this time.   
  
"I am sorry to tell you this, Max. Your sorrow runs deep, and I fear that I can only add to it this time. But you have inside of you the power to defeat even this obstacle."  
  
"What's happened?"  
  
"It's Roswell. It was reported in local papers as a string of disappearances, but your friend Valenti knows it was the resurrected special unit. They have taken three people in order to lure you back. Your father, Max, is one of them. Amy DeLuca and Liz's mother disappeared a couple of days after."  
  
Max got to his feet, despite the dizzy force that almost made him stumble to the ground. He was lightheaded in shock. "They took our parents?" he shouted, disbelief flooding his words of anger.  
  
"It is a trap."  
  
"I don't care. They can't do this!"  
  
"They believe they're above the laws. Valenti has been trying to find them, but it's unlikely he will succeed without giving the enemy what they're after."  
  
Max clenched his jaw against the sudden dread of knowing their luck might have just run out. "I'll turn myself in if I have to."  
  
The door opened to reveal Liz. Lightning struck down somewhere in the distance, far into the trees behind her, and the sky radiated with hazard white and foreboding purple bouncing off of clouds. The bright light darkened her figure as she stood. "What's going on, Max?"   
  
"We're going back."  
  
"What?" The brunette's eyes grew larger, and her eyebrows wrinkled questioningly. She couldn't be sure she heard him right, but fear told her that she understood perfectly.  
  
"We're going back to Roswell."  
  
***  
  
When Maria awoke, she was lying comfortably in bed. Sheets and blankets tangled around her unflustered body. Prying her eyelids open, she became aware of Michael's arm wrapped roughly around her waist. There was no sunlight filtering through the emaciated curtains of their motel room, but a miniscule glow from the early dawn saturated the room weakly.  
  
Her movements were almost motionless. Her breath non-existent. Noiselessly, she flipped herself over to take him into her view without waking him. She watched intently, forgetting everything else that was the world for the long moments that followed.  
  
Michael's breath was rugged but steady. One arm still draped lazily over her side; the other carelessly pushed up beneath the pillows. His lips were faintly separated, and Maria couldn't resist touching his mouth. She let her slender fingers trace over him, feeling his breath touch her skin. The single noise was his breathing. Everything else was still, unmoving, frozen. Maria was at peace and completely in rapture for what seemed to be only a fleeting moment lost in the vast hole of many consuming, turbulent ones.  
  
And before she willed it to, the moment dissolved. Michael's eyes flashed open, and his body jolted in surprise at the face staring back at him. She watched as the dark, mixed up sensation that emerged from his gaze brought the world back into its place - back into existence. Along with it, came the anxious distress of the night before. The despair Michael had conjured up inside. The stoic intent to make Maria leave him and his battles. The revealing difference now brewing inside of her. Rain and breathlessness. River Dog and thunder. Shocked lightning and blackness.  
  
Maria didn't know what to say. Michael's awkward, hesitant glance through his drowsy eyes told her he didn't know either. But he spoke despite it.   
  
"Are you all right?" he asked quietly. The sleep made his voice rough.   
  
"No," she whispered back.   
  
"You'll be okay soon," he mumbled with resolve, breaking away from his close proximity to her and crossing the room. His words refused to sit well with Maria, but she wouldn't voice her concern.   
  
"What happened?"  
  
"What do you remember?"  
  
"Running. I showed you my hands, and I I." Maria looked up to him with horror. Her full lips separated into a disgusted gape. He stopped looking out the window and tilted his head toward her, listening. His bare chest tightened.   
  
"I hurt you. I touched your face, and you fell back."  
  
"It wasn't your fault."  
  
"I flung you into a wall, Michael!" Maria's alarm showed clearly. She pulled her hands through her hair while the memories replayed themselves for her.   
  
"You didn't hurt me," he reassured, turning to take her in. She was sitting in the center of the bed, her knees bent and supporting her elbows. She was tormented. His own hair was sticking every which way, each wild spike echoing the chaotic night they had been through, but she was beautiful. Even in her sweatpants, a ratty t-shirt, and a tortured storm behind her, she was enchanting.   
  
"I couldn't help it. It just happened. I couldn't control it. I'm sorry."  
  
Michael strode over to her, and he stood in front of the bed with crossed arms over his chest. "Magnify that feeling, Maria. By a thousand. By a million. And then, tell me you don't understand why I think everything bad that's happened to you is my fault."  
  
Maria sighed. She climbed up and trudged to the end of the bed on her knees. Slowly, she took her willowy arms and extended them to touch his skin. Allowing her fingers to travel up and down his chest, she rested her palms on his sides. "Instead of blaming ourselves," she spoke quietly, "maybe we can just help each other get through this."   
  
Michael gazed at her hopeful face with longing. He didn't dare look away from the emerald eyes, knowing that if he did, everything left would be lost. Instead, he concentrated on the glimmer of her skin and her soft hands resting on him. Maybe if he held onto the moment long enough and was patient enough, it would be all right. And although Michael was never a patient person, he knew he had it in him to gather all the patience in the universe if it would help. But he knew it wouldn't help. Nothing could be enough now.   
  
"I have one more chance to make it right."  
  
"Michael. What are you talking about?"  
  
"Do remember seeing River Dog last night?"   
  
"That wasn't just a dream? He's here? He found us?"  
  
Michael's heart slumped down a little more when Maria's hands dropped away, robbing his skin of her intense touch. He closed his eyes and nodded.   
  
"Liz wasn't changed because Max healed her. She's different because she helped save my life in the cave. That's why your hands were glowing, Maria. You entered the Balance too."  
  
"Oh my gawd. All this is because of what we did way back then?"  
  
"Yeah. River Dog explained it all last night after we brought you back. Turns out, Max saving lives doesn't change people. They change by saving my ass."  
  
"Michael."  
  
"I just wish I would have known. I wish I could've stopped it. I didn't want your help back then! And now you should know why. You and Liz and Alex. You were stupid, Maria. Now you've got the scars to prove it. Prove the nightmare I made your life."  
  
"I'm okay, Michael."  
  
"Right now, maybe. Last night, you scared the hell out of me. What about tomorrow/? Or the next day, Maria?"  
  
"I'm sorry," she muttered.   
  
"Don't be. It isn't your fault."  
  
"Michael. Please. I am begging you. I can't take any more of your guilt over me. This has to come down to one thing, space boy. Trust. You have to trust that I love you. Trust that I don't blame you, because I never even could. I'd do anything for you. Please, just just stop hating yourself."  
  
Her eyes welled up with compassion, and he understood how much she meant her words. She was intoxicating just then. So open and willing. So loving. He adored her and the mistaken love she believed to feel for him. He wanted to take her into his arms and forget absolutely everything. He took in a deep breath, unprepared to hurt her again, but knowing it was inescapable. It always was. "Thank you, Maria," he nodded with the tiniest of smiles. "Know that you've given me more than anyone else ever has. And just know that I'm sorry."  
  
She looked at him strangely, reaching for him again. He pulled away this time, not allowing her to even brush her fingers over him. He walked over to the window again. The sky was lighter. "We're leaving in an hour. We have to go back to Roswell."   
  
"Why? We'll get caught, Michael. We can't go back. Has Max lost his mind?"  
  
"We have to go back because something happened. The FBI took Max's father. And Liz's mother. And they took your mom too, Maria." His tone was dark, regretful, sincerely sorry. He cringed at the gasp she took behind him, struggling to find air.   
  
He spun around when he heard the thud. Maria had gotten tangled up with the sheets in her attempt to jump out of the bed. She fell to her knees. When she didn't move, he went to her. She was crying, trying to grasp the information he had just spat at her.   
  
He put his hand to her shoulder, but she shook it away.   
  
"Maria, we're going to help her. She'll be safe. I promise we're going to get her out fine."  
  
"You can't promise me that."  
  
Silence. One. Two. Three long minutes passed without words. Maria sobbed, and Michael knelt beside her.   
  
"I can't," he finally agreed meekly. "This is my fault."   
  
"Shut up!" she screamed, getting up to her feet. "No more of this broken record blame-me-and-my-alien-tendencies bull shit. I mean it! My mom has been kidnapped by ruthless bastards who will do anything to anyone just to get to you and Max and Isabel. So stop focusing on what this is doing to me. Stop worrying, because I'm stronger than you think I am, pal... But I still need you now. I need you to be strong too, so we can save our parents and try to make things right this one last time, okay? Okay?"  
  
"Okay," Michael said half-heartedly and nodded. Swiftly, Maria pecked him on the cheek. He stood up and walked over to his bag. "We're leaving in an hour."   
  
Maria shook her head in understanding and scurried into the bathroom to get ready. She was strong, he admitted to himself. And she was crazy too. Crazy for glazing over the fact that because of them her mom was in danger now. Crazy for not blaming him and crazy for believing that her determination would be enough to stop the bad guys this time.   
  
Michael sighed heavily. It wouldn't matter. He had this final chance to save Ms. DeLuca and make Maria happy. Safe. If he could pull it off, everyone he loved would be all right when it was all over with, and he was damn sure that was all that mattered to him. He zipped his bag up and slung it carelessly over his shoulder, ready to transfer it back into the van.   
  
Soon, everything would be different. He promised himself it would be, while Maria showered in a rushed preparation to leave, completely ignorant to Michael's fateful plan.  
  



	7. The Return

Liz sat restlessly in the aisle seat. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she wore glasses that had a slight blue tint, casting a small modification to her appearance. In actuality, her appearance hadn't been altered much at all, but she believed it would be enough to fool anyone on the off chance that their pictures had circulated as far as the group had traveled. Though the FBI had broken countless laws and blown off tight privacy, it was doubted that they had given information too far away from New Mexico. For as careless as this special alien-chasing unit had been, they did not want to ignite rumors and unneeded fears of the intergalactic kind. Liz knew they had at least that working in their favor. She wasn't as concerned about getting to Roswell without being detected as she was about getting into Roswell.  
  
They had been in the air for sixty-two minutes. Three more hours and they would arrive in New Mexico. The immediate danger that presented itself at home obligated everyone to take the risk of flying home. Their van sat idly in the motel parking lot, marking the furthest spot they had journeyed to since fleeing nine weeks earlier.   
  
Liz stared down at her hands on her lap. Two rows back sat River Dog. Max occupied the seat beside her. Hundreds of miles in front of them was the rest of the group, on a different plane.   
  
The plan was simple enough. The gang would split up. Liz and Max would fly to New Mexico with River Dog. Michael and Maria, Isabel and Kyle would take a different flight, arriving separately. The two groups would reunite in the one of the old mines a few miles outside of Roswell and wait for River Dog to find Valenti. Yes, the plan was simple just not complete. No one knew what to do after they met up.   
  
Liz glanced over to Max, who was staring out the window, seemingly off in his own troubled world. She rubbed his arm, gaining his attention, and he smiled briefly for her.   
  
"Are you all right?" she whispered.   
  
He nodded his head weakly as he leaned his forehead against hers. Liz wanted to ask if him if he was lying. She wanted to know what they were going to do once they got to the mines. And she wanted to know what was going to happen in the end. How everything would wind up working out this time, when it mattered the most. But she didn't ask. She only pushed her face against his and closed her eyes.   
  
"We shouldn't all be going back. It's too dangerous," he whispered, his eyes too closed. His hand tracing along her cheek. He could feel Liz's slight shake of her head, disagreeing.  
  
"No. No, we talked about this already, Max. Everyone's involved with this, and it's safer to just stay together."  
  
"This isn't ever going to end, is it?"  
  
"Don't say that."  
  
Max opened his eyes, an admiring grin on his tired face. "I love you. Your faith is it's everything."  
  
"It's easier to believe in something when you don't already think you've failed, Max."  
  
"Yeah?" he smirked, grateful for the relief his wife's optimism and the shreds of hope it instilled inside of him.   
  
"Yeah. So stop pulling a Michael on me. If we would have to help him like we did in the cave again, and I knew about the risks River Dog told us about last night I'd do it again. All of us would. You know it, Max. It's like we're all family now."  
  
"I'd do anything for Michael and Isabel. Anything for Maria. For you, Liz. The people I love."  
  
Liz smiled warmly. "So you do understand. How it is for Maria and me? And Kyle. How we're involved. How we'd do anything for you. We have each other without any division anymore. Isn't it better that way?"  
  
"It is," he quietly admitted.  
  
"Then don't blame yourselves for what's happening to me and Maria. Saving Michael might have changed me physically. But I knew I was different long before that. I knew I'd never be the same once you healed me. It's all been for the better."  
  
Her voice was warm and pleading. Beautiful and . and right. Liz always seemed to paint the picture of truth -- always seemed to be able to make him see what was right in front of him. "You're right," he uttered, pulling away and leaning back into his seat. He reached out and grasped her slender hand, bringing it down between them. "I just wish convincing Michael would be as easy."   
  
"I think he'll come around," Liz offered as she burrowed herself into Max's side. She knew Michael would come around. She only wondered if it would be too late, as images of her premonition flashed in her mind.

***

"So is your brother holding out on us with some hokey plan for when we get there?" Kyle asked, stepping out of the cab behind Isabel. "Sure he does. He's Max. He always has a plan. Right? ...Please tell me I'm right, Isabel." 

"I don't know, Kyle." She answered, unwilling to give him the comfort she knew he sought, even if his attempt was lighthearted. Turning around, she watched Michael get out of the taxi, paying the driver for bringing them to the edge of town. He clutched onto Maria's hand, leading her off to the side. He whispered something in her ear, and the two embraced with closed eyes and a hint of comfort tinged across their faces. Isabel glanced away, conflicted. Happiness, because her brothers had their someone. Pain, because she didn't. Just to feel that comfort when Jesse used to hug her. Just to have that feeling back for an instant was worth everything. Strangely, when she wrapped her arms around herself, protecting against the sudden shiver coursing throughout her body, she thought of only one person, and it wasn't her husband. It was Alex. Apprehensively, she shook the feeling away.

Michael stepped up, his arm draped over Maria's shoulders. "You all right, Iz?" 

She looked up, startled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go. We have two miles to walk in the dark." She spun around and rejoined Kyle. 

The four walked in silence, their footsteps eaten by the soft sands of the desert. Streams of monlight drifted around them, its light combining with the stars to give off the softest of lights -- too soft to be useful in guiding them as easily through the blackness as preferred. And as they agreed not to use powers to light the way, the darkness hid them perfectly protecting all four as they journeyed to the mines on the outskirts of Roswell. 

"Honestly. I didn't think we'd be returning so soon," Kyle said quietly. 

"Are you glad to be back?" Isabel asked sincerely, remembering the poignant exchange he had shared with his father as they waited in the van the night they left Roswell. 

"Not for what brought us back. No." Kyle rubbed the back of his neck. "But I do miss my dad." 

"After all this is over, however it turns out ... if we have to run again, I'd understand if you stayed away this time. Now that we know you aren't going to have any alien changes occur in the distant future."

"Yeah, isn't that a bummer. To tell you the truth, I was kind of looking forward to getting my own set of kick-ass super powers. Maybe someday, huh?"

"Yeah, someday...."

" But what makes you think I wouldn't go with you again?"

"There's no reason to now, Kyle."

"And there's no reason for me to stay in Roswell either. Come on, Isabel. Gunfire. Dramatic chases. Supernatural powers. Touring the country. Who could pass up such excitment?" 

Isabel's lips curved into a slight smile, grateful for Kyle's upbeat nature. For a moment, he had made her forget that her father was somewhere out there, in trouble. Made her forget that her husband was thousands of miles away, trying to move on without her.... Made her forget that the guy who had finally gotten her to come around to the love he openly offered was forever gone.... But only for a moment could she forget. A sniffle escaped into the air.

"My dad's gonna find your father. We'll get everyone back."

Isabel nodded, though he couldn't see it in the darkness. "I know," she answered. "I know." And she believed they would, because she had to. She knew she couldn't bear to lose anyone else. 

Maria and Michael followed Isabel and Kyle, several paces behind. "Are you all right?" Michael asked Maria.

"Yes, Michael. Stop asking already. I think you've asked it enough tonight to make up for three years of never asking," she muttered lightheartedly, squeezing her arm even tighter around his waist. His body heat warmed her skin through their clothing, and his powerful arm resting ontop her shoulders stunningly pumped solace through her veins. With Michael by her side, things would always be enough for her. Alone, she was Maria DeLuca - crazy and unique, but not complete. Alone, he was Michael Guerin - a passionate stonewall, blocking desperately needed relief from his life. But together. Yes, together was what made Maria smile inwardly. Together, they were feisty and dizzied love. Together, they made up something otherwordly. 

She felt him take shorter strides, slowing their pace to give distance between them and Kyle and Isabel. "Listen, Maria. I want to talk to you about something." 

"This can't be good." She felt her current state of contentment sober into flatout dread, and for what might have been the first time ever, she wished that Michael didn't want to talk. 

"When we get back and when your mom and the others are all out safe, I was thinking, that maybe you and your mom could, uh, take a road trip. You know, disappear for a while."

Maria stopped abruptly, causing Michael to jerk backward, his arm still wrapped around her. "What did you just ask me to do?" Michael couldn't see it, but she knew Maria was glaring at him. 

"It'd just be safer."

"Apparently you didn't hear me the first seventy-three times. I don't care about that, Michael. I'm staying with you." 

"You're not hearing me out," he muttered, beginning to walk again. Maria continued beside him. 

"I hear you crystal clear, space boy," she said matter-of-factly, trying too hard not to let him and his fears invade her newfound determination. She heard him open his mouth to contradict her once again, but she stopped dead in her tracks once more, this time grabbing onto Michael's arms and spinning him around to face her. 

He watched her stoic face with the miniscule moonbeams floating against her skin. She was pale and mysterious. She was something he would never stop wanting. Someone he would never stop loving. Her hair was down around her shoulders, and a few strands blew in front of her face with the stray breeze drifting through the desert. 

She spoke, and the words carried a serious tone - more serious than he had ever heard come from Maria. "I'm a part of something important, here, Michael. I'm a part of you. Before you, I had no sense of purpose in my life, all right? Before you, I was the funloving friend of Liz Parker. We had a plan. She was going to be a famous scientist. I was going to be her whacky best friend. Tagging along without ... without purpose.... You give me purpose, Michael. Meaning. I swear. Don't ask me to give you up." Her eyes seemed frozen in a final plea for him to believe her. Like she somehow subconsciously knew just how far he'd go to save her from pain. But it was true. He would go to the ends of the earth and leave all that is living for her. As if he could even breath again if she were ever harmed. 

Her voice was a mere whisper now. "I'm with you ... till the end, Michael Guerin." She spun on her heels just then, jogging to catch up to Isabel. 

He could only watch. 

She made his chest tight and his self-control unattainable. That radiant creature, Maria DeLuca -- standing five foot four inches, with mesmerizing beauty and enough power to make his insides melt with a single fleeting glance his way. He went over her in his mind. How she loves to watch lightning in the sky; How she likes dark flowers and true romance, but settles for whatever he struggles to come up with. She will sing all the time, and dance with or without music. Stubborn and so sweet to him at the same time, she spills over with a mixture of bittersweet tinted joy. The greenish shades of her eyes seem to merge like the colors of a storm brewing. That's how he saw her, and he knew he could go on and on.

Three years ago, Michael had done what he had unceasingly dreamed of as well as what he had been scared to death of. He had fallen in love -- the truest love there was. He shuddered as he also realized it could all be taken away in less than a second. Catching his breath from this startling revelation, he returned to the others -- returned to part of his family. Yeah, he was something out of this world only with Maria. Together, they were something special, beautiful. Something intoxicating ... but not invincible. 

And soon, they would be at the mine; they would a little closer to the permanent safety of the ones he loved. A little closer to putting the steps into action. The time was all but upon them. 

To Be Continued...


End file.
